Cardinals Projected to Franchise Tag Marquise Brown
ARIZONA -- With just four weeks remaining in the 2023 season, the Arizona Cardinals begin to close the door on what's been a strong first year of their rebuild.
3-10 record aside, Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort has made all the right moves in terms of deconstructing a roster and tearing it down to build from the ground up.
There's great promise that comes with the beginning of 2024, mostly in the sake of draft capital and ample salary cap space. However, Ossenfort and his staff must continue to nail their decisions to truly put the Cardinals forward in their trajectory.
One of the big decisions Arizona has on deck is the future of Marquise Brown. After being acquired for a 2022 first-round pick, Brown now enters the final year of his rookie contract and has yet to ink an extension with the team.
In PFF's early evaluation of the top 50 free agents in 2024, Brown finished at No. 17 with the following analysis from Brad Spielberger:
"The Ravens traded Brown and a third-round pick to the Cardinals for a 2022 first-round pick, and his time in Arizona has been a journey, to say the least. Between his own injuries and Kyler Murray’s torn ACL, the former college teammates haven’t been able to team up as much as the old regime probably hoped, but he has flashed when in the lineup.
"It’s hard to come up with a solid comparable player for a 5-foot-9, 180-pound outside wide receiver — although now the NFL is adding more of this archetype each year — and it’s also fair to wonder how badly Arizona wants to extend anyone, given their timeline and the emergence of rookie wideout Michael Wilson."
For his current projection, Brown is expected to be franchise tagged by Spielberger.
There's been plenty of guesses as to what Brown could expect on the open market. Many believe he'll utilize Christian Kirk's recent 4 yr/$72 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a model.
Spotrac currently has his market value at $14.8 million, which still may be a bit rich for the Cardinals to eat.
Earlier in the season, Brown said the two sides were still engaged in positive talks surrounding a potential new deal. More can be read below:
According to OverTheCap, the franchise tag for wide receivers in 2024 is projected to be at $21.6 million while the transition tag is at $19.3 million. (Note: transition tag doesn't allow team to be compensated if they refuse to match a contract)
If the Cardinals truly wanted Brown around for the long haul, tagging him could be a useful option if they're able to strike a long-term deal. However, the risk runs with the massive price tag and one-year deal (which is fully guaranteed) if no agreement can be found between the two sides.
It's an interesting situation to monitor, and there's arguments to be made for both options.
